Nine Months
by Daemon12794
Summary: Because there is no way you can convince me that Nate stayed sane and helpful during Elena's pregnancy.
1. First Month

Elena knew. The sickness, the vomiting, the continuous fever and fatigue. She knew what was causing it. _Well if you know then why won't you just do a goddamn test, Fisher?_

 _You know why,_ she admonished her inner voice, looking at the reflection of her concerned husband rubbing her back in the bathroom mirror.

It had been almost two years since Libertalia. D&F Fortunes was just getting up to speed. According to Elena, this could not have come at a more inconvenient time. Nate was running helter-skelter to get all their approvals and permits, and Elena should be there doing this with him, goddammit. _Shh, you shouldn't swear in front of the baby. What baby, you don't even know if you're pregnant for sure. You've shot people and seen insane things that shouldn't exist! And you're scared of that pharmacy stick?_

Sure, she could keep blaming their not-so-much-of-a-start-up for her reluctance to tell her husband, but deep down, she knew the real reason.

Nate would run.

Somehow, against all odds, they had managed to make it work. Looking at the last eight years, she couldn't even believe it herself that this happened. That confident, suave voice on the phone that had conned her into funding their expedition for Sir Francis Drake's coffin had now morphed into her husband. Her dorky, gun slinging, monkeyman of a husband. But she knew Nate's biggest fear – slowing down. Sure, he said he had nothing more to run from. He had laid all his quests to rest – Sir Francis Drake, his brother now back from the dead, and his mother's life's work complete (in a way). He said he was ready to spend his life with her.

But call Elena a fool if she didn't think he could do it again after doing it thrice.

"'Lena, I think its time we went to a proper doctor," Nate said, gently, "Our usual remedies for this stuff don't seem to be working. Maybe it isn't a stomach bug."

Elena sighed, moving away from the commode to wash her face. Time to face the music. It had been almost a month since the sickness started. Her period was late too. There was no going back from here. She stood up straight and squared her shoulders, "There's one more thing to try out."


	2. Second Month

Elena laughed as Sam & Chloe continued to argue. She couldn't deny it, there were some sparks flying there. Sully made eye contact with her from across the table, wiggling his eyebrows towards the two of them. Yup, he could see it too.

Who would have thought it would have been this simple, she thought, sipping her mint lemonade through a straw, gazing at Nate out on the porch.

* * *

(One month ago)

 _"Pregnant?" Nate repeated, for the third time, staring at her blankly._

 _"Yes, Nate, pregnant. Don't tell me you weren't aware of the consequences of our actions, or did they not teach you that at the convent?" Elena chortled, forcing laughter over her anxiety, as she looked down at the tiny plus sign on the stick._

 _The silence from her husband made her twist to look at him incredulously, "Wait, you mean-"_

 _"No, I'm aware, thank you," Nate mumbled, the words coming out a bit too sharply for her taste._

 _Elena felt cold seeping through her body. He did not look pleased. He looked confused, as if he figured this never would happen._

 _Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he bounced off the bed suddenly._

 _"Where are you going?" Elena squeaked, struggling to keep down another wave of nausea._

 _Nathan turned to face her with excitement, "I'm getting my keys. We need to visit a doctor!"_

 _Elena let out an anxious laugh. Hearing it, he froze. Turning around again, he looked at her with a sheepish expression on his face, "That_ is _what you do when you get pregnant, right?"_

 _At this, the tension that Elena was feeling all but disappeared. She laughed as she got up and looped her arm through her husband's, "As if I've done this before. But it's a good place to start."_

* * *

 _Nate was pretty much silent the entire car ride home. He pulled up into their garage and parked the car, but made no move to get out. Elena, taking the hint, sat in the passenger seat and waited._

 _Finally, he spoke, "Why didn't you tell me if you knew about it already?"_

 _Elena sighed, "I didn't know for sure."_

 _"But you had an idea."_

 _She shifted guiltily, "I did."_

 _Nate already knew why she hadn't told him. It killed him a little to know that she put up with nausea, headaches and fatigues just to get out of telling him. She thought he would run._

 _His hand shot out, gripping hers tightly. Looking into her eyes, he spoke clearly, but the words sounded hollow even to himself, "I'm always going to be there, Elena."_

 _"I know."_

* * *

Nate leaned against the railing, beer in hand, staring out to the street outside. He had left the living room almost twenty minutes ago to answer a call, but hadn't gone back. Raucous voices carried through the slightly open door. He could hear Sam regaling Elena was stories from his latest escapade – until suddenly the voices grew louder and then disappeared with the click of the door closing.

"Penny for your thoughts, Drake?" Chloe drawled, leaning against the railing next to him.

Nate gave her a perfunctory smile. _Another life…_

Without pausing, she went on, "Would you look at all of this. First the house, then the white picket fence, now a baby," she snorted, "I really had pegged you down as a different guy."

Nate chuckled, "Maybe I'm just tired of people shooting at me."

Chloe grinned, "Maybe. Hey, are you okay? This is a lot to take it."

A lot to take in was right. Here he was, an idiot boy – mother committed suicide, dad dumped him in an orphanage. He begged, borrowed, stole his way through life. How the hell could he be a dad. And how the hell could he say this to Chloe. So instead he shrugged and gave her a trademark Drake smirk, "Yeah, but in the end, maybe I always was the picket fence type."

Chloe rolled her eyes, picking up her backpack, and walking down the porch, "Well then, best of luck to that life. I think you'll need it. More than when people were shooting at you."

Nate smiled at her retreating figure. His smile contorted into a groan when she called out, "and pass my number over to that brother of yours!"

* * *

Four hours later, Elena was dozing upstairs. Nate and Sully broke out a bottle of whiskey in the living room. Sam had to make a short trip into town to meet a contact, and Nate couldn't help feeling said "contact" was a dark-skinned brunette who had vacated the house some time earlier.

"So," Sully said, pouring himself a glass, "I'm a goddamn granddad now."

"Yeah," Nate sighed, "Well – not yet."

"Finally something that I'm not to old to be doing, But none of that diaper changing duties, mind you."

Nate started at Sully from over his glass.

"What?"

"I didn't know you knew the head of a baby from its ass. Since when were you even aware of the existence of diapers?"

Sully smiled, "Well, I won't deny that I've been doing a bit of reading since you kids called me and told me the news."

Nate grunted, downing his drink in a gulp, and pouring himself a second.

"For what its worth, kid, I think you'll make a great dad."


	3. Third Month

The late morning sun filtered in through the curtains. Elena stood naked in front of the full-size mirror, examining her belly. The tiniest bump could just be seen.

The morning's silence was punctuated with a groan as Nate rolled on the bed and stuck his arm out to feel for the presence of his wife. Failing to do so, he blinked and pushed himself up to see where she was. The morning light lit her left side up, highlighting the ghosts of scars from Shambala, and the slight bump around her belly.

"You're beautiful," Nate said, as gazed at her.

Elena giggled, meeting his eyes as he extended both arms towards her, motioning her in for a hug. She didn't feel any nausea, no headaches, nothing. As she moved to the bed to snuggle up to her husband, he gasped as her cold body touched his bare chest, "How long were you standing there, 'Lena?"

"Long enough to wake you up, it seems," she murmured, pressing her lips to his.

He wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her, deepening their kiss. Rolling her over so that her back was to the bed, he moved down to place his hands on the hard bump that was her belly.

 _A baby, our baby, my baby._

Elena knotted her hands in his hair, feeling a giggle come through her as she saw the concentration with which Nate was staring at her stomach. Pulling him up, she brought his lips back to hers with a soft, "C'mere you."

Nate groaned as her lips started to move down to his neck and her hands moved down his back.

Elena felt Nate's breath get heavy, and felt his want against her thigh. She looked up at him with a smirk, only for it to freeze in place when they heard a huge crashing sound from downstairs.

"SORRY!" came Sam's voice, as Nate let out a faint growl. _Damn him for staying over for the week. Damn him for getting up this early, today out of all days._

"No," Nate muttered, as Elena sighed and made to get out of bed, " no no no no _no,_ I will _not_ be cockblocked by my idiot _brother_. Noooo."

Elena had gotten out and was now tugging on his arm, "Come on, cowboy, let's go see what he's gotten himself into this time." She could see a full-force, grumpy-Nate sulk building up. _Time to bring out the big guns._

"Besides," she drawled, turning around and walking to the bathroom, giving him a full view of her behind, "we have all day to continue, and I like making you beg."

Nate sighed, gazing longingly at his wife until she shut the bathroom door. He got out of bed, and brought up the special list he kept at the back of his mind that was labelled 'The Multiple Ways You Can Murder Your Brother."


End file.
